Managed services: Security #1, storage #2

Posted on February 23, 2007

—According to a recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), security ranked number one in terms of users' expenditure plans on IT managed services, followed closely by storage-specific managed services.

Of the 322 organizations surveyed—all of which use managed services of some kind—about one-third said they plan to increase spending on security-related managed services, and only slightly less said they plan to increase spending on managed storage services such as backup and disaster recovery.

Other services cited included Web or e-mail hosting (27% of the survey respondents), network monitoring and administration (25%), and software-as-a-service and application subscriptions (20%).

When asked why they're investing in third-party managed services, 40% of the survey respondents said that it's because they do not have the in-house skills to manage certain IT services, and another 30% said it's less expensive to outsource IT services. And 21% said they go with a managed services model because it allows them to focus on their core competencies.

The CompTIA survey included all sizes of companies, with the mean amount spent on managed services being $243,855.

CompTIA will host a Managed Services Summit May 1-3 in San Diego, which will focus on how to market, sell, and deliver managed services; operating and financial models for managed services businesses; and how to partner on managed IT services. For more information: www.comptia.org.